Text Size

-

+

reset

Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will be appointed Mideast envoy.
AP Photo

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all announced Thursday that two high-profile diplomats will serve as envoys to volatile regions, resolving the outstanding question about American foreign policy: Who will be in charge?

The answer: All of them.

Obama and Clinton appeared Thursday at the State Department to formally announce Clinton’s appointment and to roll out some of her senior staff and envoys. Among them was former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who, a source said, will report to both Obama and Secretary Clinton as Mideast envoy; Richard Holbrooke, envoy to South Asia and Afghanistan, will have a similar arrangement. The Mitchell appointment puts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the hands of an experienced power player and deal-maker, but leaves unresolved some of the lines of command in the new administration.

“It’s very rare for a Secretary of State this early in her tenure to subcontract an issue that’s so sexy and politically resonant to a person who could have been the Secretary of State,” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official and the author of "The Much too Promised Land," a study of American diplomacy in the Middle East. “If you do that to Holbrooke, if you do that to Mitchell — then the question is going to be asked, ‘Well, what are you doing?’” he said.

Those familiar with the arrangement have a straightforward answer to that concern: Clinton has learned from her predecessor’s mistakes. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the Middle East 17 times in her last two years, but saw even small, incremental steps toward peace wiped out by Israel’s recent invasion of Gaza.

“We’ve seen what happens when the secretary tries to be the desk officer on this issue,” said one person familiar with the plans.

"George is renowned, in this country and around the world, for his negotiating skill," Obama said. "He will be fully empowered at the negotiating table and he will sustain our focus on the goal of peace." Obama added that he favored a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The appointments add more powerful figures to the crowded room of American Middle East diplomacy. Along with Obama and Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones has worked in the region, and a former envoy, Dennis Ross, is expected to take a senior State Department role. Holbrooke, a contender for Secretary of State himself, is a larger-than-life figure and major player.

And Vice President Joe Biden unexpectedly took the stage in Foggy Bottom yielding the podium back to Clinton, who in turn stressed that “the president and I” will be the key players.

Mitchell, in his own right, brings both dramatic change and a certain continuity. On the one hand, he’s a relative outsider — “not one of the peace processers,” Miller said.

But Mitchell does have his own deep experience in the region: President Bill Clinton appointed him in October of 2000 to head a commission to investigate the causes of what would become known as the Second Intifada — the renewed wave of violence at the end of his term that blossomed during Bush’s years into a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and construction of a wall around much of the West Bank. The Mitchell Report sharply criticized both sides, demanding that the Palestinian leadership disavow terrorism, and pressing Israel to put a halt to building and expanding “settlements” on disputed land.

Keep'em coming Mr. President. George Mitchell is one of the best diplomats this country could have. Background, education, experience with settling the Northern Ireland issue. He did so well that he was "Knighted" by Queen Elizabeth II. AIPAC and some others will be upset, but if Mitchell starts quietly turning the screws on both sides (i.e. you want some settlements moved, Hamas, then stop with the rockets). This guy could have been President and that is our loss.

George Mitchell possesses one of the finest minds in American politics.....Great choice.....It must have taken some real arm twisting and cajoling to get him to assume such a intensive high pressure post....

(He has been my choice for commissioner of baseball for a long time now.....Oh well ...I guess the important stuff has to wait.....)

This development makes me a bit optimistic about the almost impossible situation in the middle east......I doubt that Senator Mitchell would have come out of his semi retirement if he did not think that progress was possible.....and unless he would have a major role in forming strategy and policy.......

Oh good Lord people....I was wondering how long it would take for this tripe to get going. Hillary's the Sec of State. Obama is President and can send whomever he likes, wherever he likes to do whatever he likes. So far having just one diplomat out there hasn't brought us too much success. I'm for giving the President a whole lot of leeway on diplomacy.

I still have yet to hear where the Gitmo detainees will be sent. It also ticks me off that we are concerned what our fellow nations think of our tactics to protect our citizens YET they are not willing to take these detainees within their borders-NOR are they offering a satisfactory remedy as to how to proceed. They just criticize. Thank you Sen. Cornyn for writing the president that they are NOT to be detained in Texas.